The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1887-05-12
STREET TYPES IN ROME.
A BAREHEApED BRAUTY-Two CoNTADINA

| A BAREHEADED BRAUTY-TWo CoNTADISA
wOMES-A ROMAN COWBOY.
Let us take stroll through the streets
selecting not the Corso or the spIck anC
span throughfares of the foreign quarter,
but let us turn into side street and ther
| walk on into the heart of Rome. The
first person to attract our attention is
young women, neatly and decently dress
ed, but with this popularity, that she
wears neither bonnet nor hat. Her only
headdress is her own beautiful hair,
which is neatly brushed and as often
as not done up in the latest fashion.
| This young woman belongs to the minen-
ii class, name given to the girls and
women who never wear head covering.
| These women are for the most part the
wives or daughters of we'll to do trades
| men. AS class they are most respect
| able, and a certain proportion represent
| in their dress and the valuable jewelry
| which they wear on festive occasions the
| prosperity Of the family income, which
| Is often much larger than that of the
| class above them, who do wear bonnets.
| But no matter what the weather, how
| ever giaring the sun or intense the cold
| or pitiless the rain, the miuenti never
| put on hat or bonnet Many OF these
women have fair hair and skin and blue
eyes, thus doing away with the universal
| impression that Italian women all have
| bl4ck hair and dark compilations.
Strolling Oh, we~hear kind of mutf1ed
cry, something between chant and a
| wall, and while we are wondering whence
! it comes, an old man, bent and decrepit,
/ with h,G nlnthnG nf 6Qrna and
patches, comes trotting round the cor
| ner. He it is droning out the chant
| which has caught our attention, and, as
| he sings, he holds aloft tray of sweet
meats with dried and glace fruits. As
he moves rapidly along he chances up at
all the windows, and although his face is
old and wrinkled, it is clean, and theresis
merry twinkle in his eyes when the
children call to him and he stops before
doorway.
Coming out into square. we find our
selves before one of the 365 churches
with which Rome is blessed. and resting
on the steps where they have LAID their
| burdens are two genuine contadina wo-
men, type becoming ever year Tarer,
for the Roman peasant woman, like
many of her sisters in other parts OF
Italy, is getting tired of her beautiful
and picturesque costume, and now, es,
! peclally on Sundays and fete days, often
arrays herself in tawdry fnery and tor
| lures herself in town dress. But here
are two in their own costume, and while
| the old mother is rearanging the heavy
| bundles which poise so gracefully on
| their heads, let US take a look at the
daughter, SPLENDID specimen of her
! kind.
Dark, liquid eyes, straight, delicately
| formed nose and well cut mouth, the
parted lips showing the white and even
| teeth are framed III the traditional head
dress OF white linen, the zuccatoro, be-
meath which is seen the glossy black
| hair, ID striking contrast to the olive
complexion with its ruddy underfush, Il
tint made only by mother nature with
| the Campagna breezes for her brush and
the sun for color box. As the girl
rises from the steps and stands erect to
receive her bundle, her fine figure is dis
played to good advantage. A moment
later she and her mother have started at
a good, swinging pace, to their home on
the Campagua or up among the noun
| taIHs, distance perhaps of twenty or
thirty miles.
We now turn into a very narrow street
and suddenly move out of the way, to
| avoid being run down by "a peasant
mounted Oh a scraggy, understood horse,
who goes trottlng swiftly by. The
horses name and tail are III bempt, his
coat rough, and he has never been
groomed III his life, but he has Il bright
eye and game LOOK, as If he could trot
or gallOp for many mile without falter
| ing. The peasant on his back is rough,
like the horse. On his head Is cOulcai
shaped hat, rather the worse for wear;
but the cloak around his shoulders Is Il
good and servlceaDle one, and he wears
stout leather ieggings. In his right
hand our peasant pOlses a long pole tip
ped with iron, while with the other he
manages the horse, always Obedlont to
the slightest movement of his wrist
Ihe horseman is Roman cowboy from
the Campagua, and here called a OutterO.
lie had large drOves of the wild Campdg
Ia horses under his care, but his duties
engage him principally IN the morning
and evening, so meantime he has trotted
| into Rome for a leisurely chat with some
friends and glass of good wine at an
| osterla, Rome's nearest equivalent to a
public bar. Ii not as picturesque look
ing as the American cowboy, the Roman
buttero is much less dangerous. He is
only good natured peasant, but with a
quick eye, a ready hand with the lasso
and a frame Injured to every kind of
weather and privation. 1t may be
that somewhere il the folds of his gar
ments Is hidden knife; but in this he
Is only like all other Romans, to whom a
knife seems as necessary as food and
drink.-Cor. Boston Transcript.